Dealing with Pirates

In November 2008 Somali pirates hijacked the cargo vessel CEC Future and 13 crew members. The pirates demand 7 mio dollar. A nightmare had just begun.

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Dealing with Pirates

Dealing with Pirates

7th November, 2008 a phone rings at one of Denmark’s largest shipping companies, Clipper. Somali pirates have hijacked the cargo vessel CEC Future and 13 crew members. The pirates demand 7 mio dollar. A nightmare has just begun.

For the first time ever a TV-documentary reveals the dramatic negotiations between a Western shipping company and Somali pirates. Experts are flown from London to Copenhagen to assist Clipper’s CEO, Per Gullestrup, who faces a nervewrecking and very unusual task: He will have to try to strike a deal with pirates thousands of kilometers away and is under enormous pressure to free his crew members as quickly as possible. Per Gullestrup has to withstand threats and call bluffs as the crew slowly breaks down.

We followed the dramatic events in a hijacking that lasted more than two months. Authentic footage discloses negotiations, as they took place. And in an exclusive interview the pirate’s negotiator reveals the tactics of the pirates on board.

Finally, 68 days later, in January 2009, the deal was finally settled and the money drop was made.